Beliefs

A Quick Introduction to Who We Are

Global

The Churches of God are currently represented on 5 continents and in 17 countries. Across the globe, Bible church principles are still working in a wide variety of cultural settings.

Bible-based Unity

The close inter-dependency of the Churches of God in a worldwide Fellowship is a practical realisation of the recorded prayer of the Lord Jesus Christ for his followers: “that they may be one”.

First Century Convictions

In our fast-changing 21st century, the Churches of God “guard the good deposit” (2 Tim 1:14) by maintaining first-century Bible convictions while aiming to keep pace with the pulse-beat of modern society.

in the Trinity of God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit;

in the death of Jesus Christ, God’s Son, as the only sacrifice for the forgiveness of our sins, which is personally received by repentance and faith in Jesus Christ as personal Saviour;

in the Person of the Holy Spirit living in every believer to teach and guide in the way of serving God;

in the command for believers to be baptised by immersion in water as declaring their allegiance to the Lord Jesus and as a picture of them now being dead to sin (buried in water) and now raised to walk in a new life;

in the command for baptised believers to serve God, being added to local church of God fellowship, and in fellowship with other churches of God worldwide; the command to continue steadfastly in ‘the apostles’ teaching, the fellowship, the breaking of the bread and the prayers’.

Seven Actions For Every Church

One of the distinguishing features of the Churches of God is a unity of practice worldwide; that doesn’t mean that the churches are simply identical clones of each other, but it does mean you would notice important similarities in every local church of God you visited, whether it was in Melbourne or Malawi!

These similarities haven’t been developed over time to suit ourselves, rather they are rooted in the New Testament example of the early churches of God. Acts 2:41-42 lays out seven actions involved in the formation and operation of the very first church of God, the Church of God in Jerusalem: “Those who accepted his [Peter’s] message (1) were baptized (2), and about three thousand were added (3). They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching (4) and the fellowship (5), to the breaking of bread (6) and the prayers (7).”

Click below to explore how we put these actions into practice in every Church of God.

What you heard from me, keep as the pattern of sound teaching, with faith and love in Christ Jesus. Guard the good deposit that was entrusted to you – guard it with the help of the Holy Spirit who lives in us.